Cut-off machine



w. H. MAsoN 1,924,162

CUT-OFF MACHINE Aug. 29, 1933.

. 5 Sheets- Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 1 8, 1930 A lNvlaN-rolv mllwllllw|||lllrlh l l l i I..

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` ATTORNEYS CUT-oFF MACHINE Filed oct. 18,' 1930 5 sheets-sheet' 3 k INVENTQR l lmlpk 'MMM EY s* v ToRNEY A ug. 29j 1933. w. H. MASON CUT-OFF MACHINE `Filed Oct. 18, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Y BY Patented Aug. 291, '193.3'

AUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CUT-OFF MACHINE William H. Mason, Laurel, Miss., assigner to Masonitc Corporation, Laurel, Miss., a Corporation of Delaware y Application October 18, 1930. Serial No. 489,594 19 emma. (ci. 164-58) My invention relates to'apparatus for cutting riage track raising member taken on the line a sheet of fibrous composition or the like while 4`4 of Fig. 3; y said sheet is in motion as it comes from a sheet Fig. 5 is a side elevation. with parts broken formingmachine, such as a Fourdrinier machine away of the cutter carriage track elevating mem- 5 or the like. ber with the track in low position; 60

The main object of my invention is to provide Fig. 6 is a detail showing the cutter carriage an improved device for cutting a continuously track in elevated position; moving sheet of iibrous composition into pede- Fig. 'l is a diagrammatic side elevation showtermined lengths. ing a method of changing the machine for cut- One machine for the manufacture of nbre ting various size boards; and 65 board, to which my present invention can be Fig. 8 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in applied, is described in my United States Pat- Fis. '1.

ent No. 1,767,539. In this-machine, a mass of The cutting device is designated generally by liquid pulp is run onto a travelling screen and the reference character 10, and comprises a carformed into a continuous sheet. The travelling riage 12 consisting of a frame 13 provided on its 70 sheet; after leaving the screen, is cut into secupper side with two cross bars 14, and said frame tions of predetermined lengths and conveyedto a being mounted on wheels 15. A' motor 16 is Press I y mounted on bars 14 forming substantially a mo- By application of my invention to such mator bed. Acountershaft 18 is mounted in bearchine, efficient cutting off can be obtained when ingsy 20 secured to bars 22 on the under side of 75 the machine is run at much higher speed than frame 13, said countershaft 18 having a pulley 24 heretofore, with marked improvement in smooth.' at one end thereof and being driven by a pulley 26 ness and quietness of operation, and adjuston the motor shaft through belt 28., Shaft I8 ments can be readily made to vary the length oi' drives a rotary cutter 29, preferably provided 4with the sections cut oil. saw teeth, which is bolted to the end of the shaft 80 I mount a cutter carriage having a rotary cut- 18 opposite pulley 24. ter and motor attached thereto. upon a second Carriage 12 is adapted to move back and forth or main carriage that isitself slidably mounted across the machine. As shown, the carriage 011 a Supporting structure above a roller conwheels 15 run on tracks 31 supported on'the sec,

veyor used for conveying the continuous sheet ond or main carriage 32 in a manner permitting 85- 0f fibrous compsition. Such second carriage is vertical movement of the tracks and cutter carmoved forward with the work while the cutriage and to be described later. ter carriage is moved across the second carriage This main carriage. 32 comprises a rectangular transversely to the moving work,` and during frame 33 having wheels 34 rotatable in bearings 35 such movementof the two carriages, the cutter is 36 on its under side and running on tracks 38 ex- 9 down and is thus adapted to make a cut across tending longitudinally on each side of the mathe sheet. n elevating means is employed to chine and supported by a stationary structure elevate the cutter during the return movements such as the I-bars 40. of the two carriages whereby the cutter it out 0f The tracks 31, for wheels 15 of the cutter ,car 95' 40 operation of being-raised above the movrlage 12, are carried by vertically movable memins Sheet, Permitting the of sheet bers 42, preferably of substantially 'H-form (Fig. l to be fed before. the cutting operation t. repeat- 4) and -having upwardly extending angle bars 42't ed. The cutter is counterweighted to. avoid welded or otherwise secured thereto to prevent shock incident to its up-and-down movement. wheels 15 of carriage 12 from jumping oil.' tracks 100 In the drawings: 31. These members-42, tracks 31, and angie bars Figure 1 is a pian view ot apparatus embody- 42* constitute a iixed assembly which is guided lng my invention. showing the main carriage and laterally to move up and down in an open topped the cutter carriage above the wet board of work' channel 43-between guide plates 44 forming a part' 5o conveyor and supporting structure, and at about of frame 33 of main carriage 32, and is guided 105 the mid points o! carriage travel; against longitudinal displacement .by being re- Fig. 2 is a sidel elevation thereof; eeived between the end portions of 'frame 33 (Fig. Fig. -3 is an enlarged sectional view taken ap- 5).- Said guide platesmayeonveniently constitute proximately on theline 3-3 of Fig. 1; the side flange of a pair of Iangle bars rig. 41s an emu-esa section of s cutter 'csi-7 44, 44h welded together by the bottom-names, 11

and having holes 44 in the bottom flanges for passage of connecting rods 46. Members 42 and tracks 31, 42B, and carriage 12 are given a substantially parallel up and down movement by means of four connecting rods 46 pivotally secured at 48 to the vertically movable members 42 nearthe ends thereof, and connecting same at 50 with the throws of two crank shafts 52 and 53. The crank shafts 52 andv 53 are mounted in bearing members 54 'and 55 secured to the guide members 44 on frame 33, as by means of brackets 54' and 55' and are driven from sprockets 56 and 57 secured thereto. Short lengths of sprocket chain 58 and 59 engage the sprockets, and with link connecting link bars 60, 60 form substantially an endless sprocket chain or belt. Each of said bars 60 has a collar 62 secured thereto so that said collars 62, 62 are substantially oppositely disposed relative to each other, and are arranged' in the upper and lower reaches respectively of the endless sprocket chain.

Crank shafts 52 and 53 are actuated from the carriage 12, as by means of a depending arm 66 having a forked part 68 straddling the sprocket chain link bars 60 between the collars 62, 62 (Fig. 5) and being adapted to engage one of said `collars 62 near the end of the forward stroke of carriage 12 and the other of said collars 62 near the end of the return movement.

In order to counterbalance the weight of the cutter frame 12 `and other vertically movable parts and reduce the shock incident to quick movement thereof, supporting `yokes 70 and 71 are fixed tothe respective ends of the frame 33, and sprockets 72 and 73 mounted thereon. Sprocket chains '76 pass over 'the said sprockets'72 and '73 and have counterweights 74 and 75 attached to their ends at 78 and 79, While the other depending ends 80 and 81 of the chains are fixed to the vertically movable track carrying'member 42 to be counterbalaned.

The main carriage 32 is given a vforward movement with the work and returned by means actuated from and synchronized with the board making or Fourdrinier machine. As here shown, this is accomplished byv two blocks 82, 82, one pivotally secured to a sprocket driven chain 86 on the for,- ward side of the machine, and another to chain 8'? on the opposite side, said blocks 82, 82 slidably engaging slots 88 in arms 90 secured to channel members 92 which are fixed to the frame 33 of carriage 32 at 94.

The chains 86 and 87 engage sprockets 95, 96, and 95 and'96', secured to shafts 98 and 100, the shaft 98 carrying-sprockets 95-95 being mounted in bearings 102 and 103 secured to the stationary supporting structure 4o, while the shaft 10o carrying sprockets 96 is mounted in bearings 104 and 105 which are slidably mounted for adjustment in ways v106 fixed to the structure 40.

Shaft 98 is driven through a sprocket and chain drive1110 from the Fourdrinier or'board machine,

, thereby synchronizing the forward movement of the carriage 32 with the movement' of the wet board.

Means are provided whereby cutter carriage 12 receives its actuation from the forward and return movement of the main carriage 32. In the at 124'and 126 to opposite corners of the supporting structure 40. Thepulleys 120, 122 and anchorages 124, 126, and cables 112'and 114 are positioned so that Veach cable in passing around its pulley or 122 forms a right angle, the cable bights extending from each of the pulleys 120, 122 to the carriage 12 being at right angles to the cable bights extending from the pulleys to anchorages 124, 126,thus providing a uniform transverse pull upon the cutter carriage 12 as carriage 32 isA moved.

The described apparatus operates as follows:

The wet board W is conveyed by continuously driven rollers 108 while the carriage 32 moves forward in the direction of arrow A a predetermined distance with the moving board and at the same speed as the board, then backward a like distance opposite the movement of the board.

When the carriage 32 reaches .the end of its forward movement, the blocks 82 secured to chains 86 and engaging slotted arms 90 on the carriage 32 are carried backward after having passed around sprockets 96 during which time the speed of the carriage 32 is changeable, first decelerating, then stopping to reverse direction, and then again becoming uniform as the block moves 'from sprocket to sprocket and at the sprockets 95 the same .condition is repeated.

While the carriage 32 moves forward, the pulley 120 engaging the cable 112 is forced against same and by increasing the distance between pulley and cable anchorage 124 causes the end of such cable secured to the cutter carriage 12 at 116 to be drawn toward the pulley 120 and therewith the carriage 12. At the saine time, the pulley 122 engaging cable 114 moves toward the cable anchorage 126, thereby allowing the carriage 12 to move continuously in the direction of the arrow B to the limit of its movement.

When the movement of the carriages 12 and 32 is in the direction shown by their respective arrows B and A, the carriage l2 is moving along its lower elevation with the rotary cutter 29 cut-` ting the wet board W as shown in Fig. 3. As the carriage 32 approaches the limit of its stroke, as described, the arm 66 engages the collar 62 that is in front of it and forces same from the full line position to the broken line position shown in Fig. 5 which causes the chains 58 and 59 to be moved a like distance and rotate the crank shafts 52 upward through-an arc of.180. During this movement the connecting rods 46 elevate said members 42, tracks 31, and carriage l2 on said tracks, and raise the cutter 29 out of engagement with the wet board W. The carriage 12 returns lchains 58 and 59, rotate the crankshafts 52, 53

downward through an arc of 180 and return the f carriage to the lower level. It will be seen that the cutting'takes place during that part of the movement of the main carriage32 that is at uniform speed, and the speed of main carriage 32 at times of raising and-lowering the cutter can vary more or less without interfering with straight cross-cutting of the board.

With the described arrangement, Ithe cutter' travels the sheet at the same speed as the sheet arf fnein carriage travel so that the movement of l .tter relative to the floor under the machine .s ,n an angle of 45 to the longitudinal axis of the machine.

l In Figs. 'l and 8 I have illustrated simple means for adapting the apparatus to cut thewet lap into :pagina order to produce boards of various lengths to suit market requirements without undue trimming.

To do this, the main carriage drive sprocket system is altered in a manner to reduce the main carriage travel by reducing the distance between sprocket centers, as, for example, for a iirst reduction of board length sprocket 96 may be adjustedto station 96', Fig. 7, or for 'a still shorter board to station 96". In making such'shift it is convenient to make-use of a substitute shorter sprocketchain and pivot block assembly 86, 82. With such arrangement, the main carriage still travels forward at the work speed, but accompanies the work for a shorter distance of its for vward travel. f

In order to speed up the cutter carriage so as to complete its steps of lowering, cutting across, raising and return within the reduced travel length along with the work, without making any change in the cross carriage and cutter arrangement, I preferably make use of power derived from travel of the main carriage, and so arrange that the cables for actuating the cutter, instead of being xedly anchored at their ends remote from attachment to the cutter carriages, are attached at such ends to members which are so actuated by movementof the main carriage as to produce the requisite speeding up and quick completion of the cross carriage cutter movement that is required to secure the necessary greater number of cutting actions per foot of work travel.

One mode of elfecting this result is by pivotally connecting the ends 124', 126' of cables 112' and 114' to the lower ends of levers' 130, 131 which are-pivoted at 132, 133 to supports 134, 135, carrying these cables over pulleys 136, 137 to bring the ends to the desired points, and to pivotallyv connect the opposite ends of said levers to the main carriage 32 by means of cables 138, 139 provided for this purpose and connected to levers 130, 131, at 140, 141, and to carriage 32 at 142, 143.

With Asuch arrangement, movement of carriage 32 to the left (Fig. '7) will pull lever 131 from full-line to broken-line position by means of cable 139 moving with the carriage 32, and

so advance cable 114' and speed up cross cutter'- carriage 12 as to finish its one-way cross move-l Hyinventionincludch'ar'meswhichmaybe resorted to within the scope of my claims:

1. Means for cuttingA a travelling sheet into lengths during travel comprising' means for con tinuously conveyingA said sheet, a main* carriage.`.'. a continuously operating connection between said conveying means and said carriage to cause the latter to travel forward with the sheet and back, a cutter carriage and cutter .adapted to travel across the rst carriage, and

cable and sheave means whereby the'travel of the rst carriage produces the travel of the second Means for cutting a continuously travelling sheet into Ylengths during travel comprising a. carriage travelling forward with'the sheet and back, a cutter carriage and cutter adapted to travel across the rst carriage, andv cable means attached to the cutter carriage and sheave means moving the iirst carriage and coacting with carriage.

3. A cutting device adapted to cut a continuously moving composition board into predetermined lengths comprising a continuously driven cutter, a cutter carriage to support "same, a 1ongitudinally movable main carriage to support said cutter carriage, means for advancing -said main carriage at substantially the speed of the board for substantially one-half of the cut board length and returning said main carriage while the second half of said board length' is feeding forward, means for allowing the cutter to engage the board and means for moving the cutter carriage across the main carriage while the cutter is engaging .the board and the main carriage is advancing andfor returning the cutter carriage with the cutter disengaged when the main carriage is returning.

ously moving composition board into predetermined lengths comprising a rotary cutter, a cutter carriage to support same, a longitudinally movable main carriage to support said cutter carriage, a 'reciprocating drive for said main carriage comprising blocks secured to sprocket the cutter carriage, means to elevate the tracks ment within the reduced range of wet lap travelwandcuttercmage after a cut has been c0m available, and cable l12ibeing pulled by carriage 12, will turn lever from its full-line to its broken-line position, thereby keeping cable 138 taut; and on reverse movement of carriage 32, cables 138 will turn lever 130, advance cable end 124', and cable 112', and thereby produce increased return speed of cross cutter carriage 12. Still shorter boards, and closer together cuts to produce same, can be obtained by further A reducing the length of main` carriage travel with the work, as, for example, by spacing a sprocket wheel at 96"', and so arranging levers 130 and 131 to further speed up the cutter carriage, as by pivoting same at 1 44, 145, the length of cable connections being adapted to the change in length of lever arms. -The fixed anchorage of Figs. 1 to 6 for cables 112 *and 114 can be obtained by attaching these cables, as 112', 114' are attached in Figs. 7 and 8, and inserting pivot pins at both pivotal points of the levers as 132, 144 in case of lever 130, in which' case cables 138, 139 are out of use and the original spacing of sprockets 95,

v96 is undisturbed.

rection of travel of the main carriage.

5. A cutting device for use on a wet composition board conveying apparatus to cut the moving board into predetedmined lengths comprising a cutter member, means for moving said cutter member transversely to the moving board, and adjustable means to correct the travel speed oi said'cutter member for varied board sizes.

6. Means for cutting a continuously travel- I ling sheet into lengths comprising a fixed support, a movable member mounted thereon, a main carriage travelling forward with the sheet and back,

a cross carriage and a rotary cutter carried by and movable transversely to the main carriage,

means whereby back and'forth movement of the main carriage withrespect to said xAd support- 115 4- A cuttingdevice adapted to cut a continun l is utilized to produce back and forth movement of the cutter carriage, and means whereby back and forth movement of the main carriage producesback andforth movement of the cutter carriage at a. modied speed by imparting move-I ment to said movable member.

'1. In combination, a reciprocating carriage, a cutter carriage and cutter reciprocatingly movvable transversely thereon, means for raising and terbalancing means applied to substantially the.

four' corners of ,the cutter carriage.

9. In combination, a reciproca-ble main. carriage, a transversely reciprocable cutter carriage and cutterthereon, means whereby main carriage movement produces cutter carriage movement,

including means whereby main carriage movement imparts increased speed to the cutter carriage.

10. In combination, xed supports, a main carriage reciprocable with respect thereto, a transversely reciprocable cutter carriage and cutter thereon, cable membersrrespectively attached to the cutter carriage and to said fixed supports, and sheave members on the main carriage engaging said cable members to actuate the cutter carriage. Y

11; In a cut-oit machine for continuously moving wet lap fibre sheets, a longitudinally reciprocable main carriage movable forwardly with the work, a or' tracks extending transversely thereto and arranged or translating up and down movement upon the main carriage, a cutter carriage and cutter reciprocable on the said tracks, and means operated from the cutter carriage to lower said tracks :for advance cutter carriage movement and 'to raise same for return movement of the cutter carriage.

12. In combination, means for continuously moving a web or sheet of material, a main carriage, means actuated by said first named means for imparting reciprocatory movement to said carriage in a direction parallel tothe line of movement 'of said sheet of material, a cutter carriage mounted on said main carriage, and means actu` ated by the main carriage for imparting reciprocating movement to said cutter carriage in a direction transverse to said line of movement.v

13.- The combination of claim 12 in which the means for imparting movement to the main carriage in the direction of movement of the sheet oi material is so coordinated with respect to the means for continuously moving the'sheet of material as to cause the main carriage` to move at the same speed as said sheet.

14. The combination of claim 12 in which the means for imparting movement to .the cutter carriage is so coordinated with respect to the means for continuously moving the sheet of mat terial and the means for imparting recprocatory Y movement to the main carriage as to cause the cutter carriage to move during the cutting operation at the same speed as the sheet of material.

15'. The combination of claim 12 in which means are provided for varying the speed at which the cutter carriage travels without varying the speed of the sheet of material or main carriage.

16. The combination of claim 12 in which the means for imparting reciprocatory movement to the cutter carriage comprises a 'exible tension member one end of which is secured thereto and w the other end to a fixed support.

17. The combination of claim l2 in which the means for imparting reclprocatory movement to the cutter carriage comprises a exible tension member, one end of which is secured thereto and the other end to a movable member which is moved to vary the speed of the cutter carriage with respect to the sheet of material.'

18. In combination, a fixed support, a main 

